The scene that best identifies the original Grown Ups, Happy Madison's 2010 wrangling of Adam Sandler and his band of thieves, sees Kevin James demonstrating an ad hoc jig as an advertisement for what Sandler and wife Salma Hayek would miss if they were to leave the gang's vacation house in favor of attending a fashion industry gala in Paris. Backed by the subdued laughter of his wife and friends, Smith shimmies around for a couple of seconds, the film forgoing what might have been a more outrageous or laugh-out-loud punchline for something goofy and naturalistic. The sort of joke that a real person might make among his friends and family. And although Grown Ups might not have hit home in its delivery of this theme — just a group of old friends, hanging out and cracking wise, in a way to which everyone in the audience can relate — it... well, it tried.
The scene that best identifies Grown Ups 2? Hard to say. Maybe it's the point at which David Spade zooms across town inside of a giant tire, submitting to projectile vomit when he is finally halted by the brick wall that is Shaquille O'Neal's torso. Maybe it's the part when newbie Nick Swardson, playing some kind of sexually confused, substance-addicted Gollum, surfs the top of a school bus that his pals hijacked en route to relive the glory days at the old watering hole. It's hard to pinpoint an instance that most effectively captures the overall mood because the mood changes by the minute — the film shoots erratically from efforts at down-to-Earth, slice of life humor to moments of unabashed fantasy, like Shaq literally punting a teenager over a three-story house. It's impossible to pinpoint an instance that most effectively captures the overall plot, because that simply doesn't exist. There's a set-up, sure: Adam Sandler moves back to his hometown, and... it's summer now. Beyond that — an element that is introduced with the star having his face urinated upon by a home intruding deer — chaos.
And it's chaos in every sense of the word. Chaos in the things that happen — like the vomiting tires and the Nick Swardson and the micturating wildlife. Chaos in the fact that some things happen for no discernible reason — like Kevin James exhibiting a 5-Hour Energy addiction, Sandler and Chris Rock's high school-aged sons feigning drunkenness to fit in with a college crowd, Sandler suspecting his wife of having an affair with her aerobics instructor (Oliver Hudson). These, and a ganglion of other ostensible plotline seedlings, are planted, but never brought to blossom.
Sandler's suspicions of Hayek's adultery is introduced in one scene, set to rest in another, and ignored entirely for the hour in between. Sandler and Rock's boys dance around the prospects of befriending the partying university students but then are barely seen, and never in the company of this motif, for the rest of the film. And Kevin James' alarming 5-Hour Energy shtick? One that follows his anxiety over the way his wife is raising their children and her disapproval of how much time he prefers to spend with his mother? Never explained. In fact, none of his two theoretically daunting stories are explored whatsoever. The closest thing to a character arc that James gets in this movie is his recurring delivery of a burp-sneeze-fart combination in which he takes immense pride. That gets more screen time than the hints of marital problems strewn haphazardly throughout James' would-be story.
In fact, when the film does pay fleeting attention to what might have been some actual character work, James' wife, Maria Bello, is treated like a villain. She's a loon who enables her young son's academic shortcomings and who is showcased as the bad guy for not being more nurturing to her husband's desire to be waited on hand and foot by his mother. And truth be told, she's pretty damn nurturing to it! But not so much that his eventual free pass to spend as much time as he wishes at his mom's place, avoiding his wife and kids, is supposed to be seen as a victory.
Bello is not an outlying example of the film's misogynistic point of view. An aerobics class illustrates all attending wives — Hayek, Bello, the usually sensational Maya Rudolph — as ravenous, animalistic deviants ready and willing to cheat on their husbands with the attractive instructor, who announces he is gay to disapproving boos. Although this is only meant to express their disappointment in a lack of opportunity for sexual conquest, the homophobia does not stop there: a transexual character is made a focal point of ridicule throughout the film. And Swardson, whatever semblance of a human being he is portraying in this movie, transforms into a deplorable, bodily fluid-soaked gay joke in the third act of the film. The single consistent throughline Grown Ups 2 seems to have, in fact, is its bigotry.
With Saturday Night Live vets popping out of the woodworks in every scene, and the ridiculousness escalating as the minutes carry on for a 101-minute eternity, you might be ambitious enough to wade through all the debris of scattered non-plots and offensive material and approach every non sequitur with revived hope. "Hey, Jon Lovitz! He's funny. Maybe this gag will work." Or, "Holy shit, is that Stoen Cold Steve Austin? Awesome!" But the sparse moments of laughter never come from where you might expect, and are at best born from a morbid appreciation for the horror story that has befallen a once promising troupe. Playing David Spade's degenerate illegitimate son, Hunger Games vet Alexander Ludwig experiments with deadpan one-liners that are so bizarre in delivery, they're off-puttingly hilarious. But Grown Ups 2's comedy crown belongs to Taylor Lautner.
Scratch that. Taylor Lautner's stunt double. For, the most genuine laughter provoked by the movie comes from the frat boy character's effusive front-flips, performed throughout the suburban backdrop. So high above the rest of the movie does this unsung hero fly that we're unsure if Grown Ups 2 was constructed as a The Producers-like ploy to launch the stuntman, or perhaps Lautner, to comedy stardom, bolstering his reputation against the destruction of everyone else's.
The strangest thing about Grown Ups 2 is not its quality — we've seen bottom of the barrel movies before, and from Sandler's team for certain. What's truly strange is how far a cry it is from Grown Ups in its very nature. No longer naturalistic, emotionally-embued, or even about anything, the sequel would have made more sense as a follow-up to one of Sandler's more absurdist romps. Of course, if this was labeled as a Billy Madison sequel, then it might actually start violent riots. Like the one in this movie. Oh yeah, the whole town beats the s**t out of a bunch of kids.
.5/5
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Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, and David Spade are returning for their comedy sequel Grown Ups 2, but did you know that Taylor Lautner also makes an appearance? The former Twilight hunk does indeed have a cameo in the film, as a jersey-wearing frat boy. He kicks the middle-aged gang off his fraternity's turf, but not before showing off an overly-long handshake.
Although there are some new faces in the movie, Sandler &amp; Co. are back to their old shenanigans. They get caught stealing a school bus, although the policeman (yes, that is Shaq) doesn't really seem to mind.
Meanwhile, Salma Hayek and Maya Rudolph talk motherhood while at a yoga class. A leash is always helpful when trying to control your children.
Grown Ups 2 is in theaters on July 12.
Follow Mary Oates on Twitter @mary_oates | Follow Hollywood.com on Twitter @hollywood_com
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Movie mogul George Lucas will receive the U.S. government's highest arts honour from President Barack Obama later this month (Jul13). The Star Wars creator will be presented with the National Medal of Arts at the White House on 12 July (13).
A statement from the President's office reads, “By combining the art of storytelling with boundless imagination and cutting-edge techniques, Mr. Lucas has transported us to new worlds and created some of the most beloved and iconic films of all time."
Other luminaries to be honoured at the same ceremony include record label boss Herb Alpert, playwright Tony Kushner and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Elaine May.
Previous recipients include Meryl Streep, James Taylor, Quincy Jones, Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood and Bob Dylan.

A Breitling watch custom made for Sean Connery to wear as James Bond in 1965 film Thunderball has sold at auction for almost $160,000 (£103,000). The timepiece was expected to go under the hammer at London's Christie's auction house between $62,000 (£40,000) and $93,000 (£60,000).
The Breitling model became the first watch modified by 007's gadgets guru Q, and was equipped with a Geiger counter to help Bond detect the emission of nuclear radiation.
Actress Elizabeth Taylor's first wedding dress, which she wore as an 18-year-old bride when she married Conrad Hilton, Jr. in 1950, was also a big hit at the auction - it sold for $189,000 (£122,000), more than double the $77,500 (£50,000) it was expected to fetch.

Every week, Hollywood gives us something to whine about, and the week of June 17 was no different. We could make a drinking game out of this week, but that would be too dangerous. Instead, we'll stick to the usual formula: varying levels of alcoholic respite depending on how bothersome the week's issues are. Is your biggest complaint this week a flimsy one? How about a light cocktail to take the edge off? Got a real bone to pick with a celeb or entertainment entity this week? Go ahead, grab a drink that'll put hair on your chest. Here are the week's entertainment stories that are forcing us to seek a bubbly or boozy refuge. And maybe an idea or two about how you should wash them down.
LIGHTEN UP WITH A WHITE RUSSIAN
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West name their daughter North West. Her parents are obviously setting her up to be a fan of One Direction, but that baby will always be Kimye to me.
Jimmy Kimmel releases the suggestive R&amp;B ballad “(I Wanna) Channing All Over Your Tatum." According to new father Channing Tatum's rap section, "Going Channing on your Tatum makes the babies be born." But has anyone actually figured out what this means yet?
50 Shades of Grey gets a director. As if summer wasn't hot enough already...
James Franco jumps on the crowdfunding bandwagon and will let you pay $5,000 for a line in one of his new movies so that he can tell you he would have done it better.
WASH THIS WEEK DOWN WITH A RED BULL &amp; VODKA
Andrew W.K. breaks the world record for longest drum session in a retail store before we can even process that this is even an existing record to break.
Director of Spring Breakers is remixing the film to make a whole other movie. And like every good remix, T-Pain will probably make an autotuned cameo, shawty.
Rihanna whacks fan with a microphone proving once and for all that she is a Good Girl Gone Bad.
HIT THE HARDER STUFF WITH A BLUE LAGOON
Katy Perry says Russell Brand asked for a divorce via text. All he had to say was "I kissed a girl (who isn't you) and I liked it."
Rihanna is considering entering a woman's love and sex addiction rehab facility because, apparently, "chains and whips excite her" too much.
Paula Deen issues an apology after being outed for racial discrimination and simultaneously reminds us of the dangers of not wearing sunscreen.
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Warning: The following article contains major spoilers about the plot of Monsters University.
When we meet a young Mike Wazowski, revamped entirely from his wise-cracker turn in Monsters, Inc. to be the wide-eyed, go-getter hero of the new piece, his quest to be a great scarer is clear as day. After an elementary school field trip to Monsters, Inc., little Michael decides that it is his destiny to scare the bejeezus out of humankind like the best of 'em (the best of 'em represented by a tentacled John Krasinski). As the movie carries forth, unlikely hero Wazowski battles against society's expectations to be a scaring victor at the esteemed titular academic institution, proving that just because he might not be traditionally "scary," that doesn't mean that he can't bring something to the time honored scaring game.
It's a touching story of self-acceptance and tolerance of those different from you, of the formation of lifelong friendships with former foes. It's sweet and charming, perhaps even evocative of a tear or two.
But then, you recall the ending to Monsters, Inc., and it all kind of goes down the drain.
As a prequel to one of Pixar's most beloved features, Monsters University already has the odds against it. Sequel territory is risky; prequel territory is like a freakin' minefield. But it's not only the quality of the 2001 film that Monsters University contends with — failing to measure up to its wit and cartoonish charm — nor the impressive world building. In fact, it's the conclusion of Monsters, Inc. that undercuts the new release: an ending that proved that monsters shouldn't be scary.
If you'll recall, Mike and Sully's tireless efforts to protect human toddler Boo resulted in the revelation that a child's laughter is far more effective at fueling the Monstropolis energy supply than a child's screams. As such, the industry is revolutionized: instead of scaring kids, monsters take to making them chuckle. In this new realm, Wazowski (formerly resigned to office work) is a champion. Not only that, but it makes the monsters seem a whole lot more amicable.
But with Monsters University, we're adhered to the era when the monster race valued fearfulness. The ultimate victory of the film is that Mike and Sully manage to band together to become a great scaring team... an idea demonized (and understandably so!) by the original film. So are we supposed to be happy with this "triumph"? Or are we supposed to smirk knowingly with the notion in mind that the two of them will learn their lesson soon enough?
It'd be easier to judge Monsters University as a standalone film if it didn't make pretty consistent callbacks to the original, banking on viewer familiarity to fuel a handful of gags. But keeping Monsters, Inc. in mind does a disservice to University. If you're asked to remember the first film, then you're asked to recognize the incomplete nature of the second's ending.
And this isn't an issue specific to the Pixar pair. In watching The Hobbit, an immense sense of dread embraces our attention to hero Bilbo Baggins, knowing how nature turns in The Lord of the Rings features. In OZ the Great and Powerful, we can't help but recall the psychological downfall of the wizard... and the fact that no trace of a romantic relationship exists between him and Glenda in Dorothy's chapter. And in another James Franco venture, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, how can we really root for Caesar when we know that his race turns into a malicious race of slave-owners? Well, I guess that's kind of the point of that last one. But it certainly isn't the case for Monsters University.
We're supposed to feel happy that Mike and Sully "win" in the end. That they champion the art of scaring and become the most frightful entities in their versatile community. But when we think about just how sour they realize this line of work is in Inc., we have to sigh. A hollow victory indeed.
Follow Michael Arbeiter on Twitter @MichaelArbeiter.
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If you've ever seen a college comedy — or heck, just about any underdog story — you can probably predict every beat of Monsters University: an earnest, hard-working newcomer pursues his unlikely passions in a new environment, quickly learning that he is in way over his head. There's a quasi-antagonistic foil, one who might eventually become his ally (or heck, best pal!), and a majorly antagonistic authority figure, and probably a series of competitions that'll prove the worth of our lovable heroes. They'll lose the first round, but by some loophole be allowed back into the games, only to reign supreme in every subsequent feat of strength, ultimately achieving something in the vein of self-worth, or new friendships, or a car.
And it works. Sure, any genre-savvy adult might find Monsters U to deliver one of Pixar's less impressive plots, but it hits every mark in terms of entertaining its younger demographic — it is bright and lively, kooky and funny (while teenage Mike and Sully aren't half as witty as their adult counterparts, their goofy frat brothers offer enough good-natured quirk to make up for it), and illustrative of the all-important messages of acceptance of yourself, no matter what your limitations, and others, regardless of how much they veer from your ideals. While the rest of the campus sees Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) as a nobody, he's sure from the get-go that he's destined to be a great scarer, obsessing over every theory and formula behind the exhaustive study. Jimmy Sullivan (John Goodman), on the other hand, is universally beloved and admired, banking on his father's legacy to help him coast through a field that he knows to "come naturally" for him.
But both young "men" are thrown for a loop when it turns out that neither brains nor charisma alone can build an effective scare machine. You need the full package. Thus, the heartwarming banding together of this way-too-different-to-Ever-be-friends-oh-wait-this-is-Disney pair, resulting in the lifelong friendship that we stumbled into in Monsters, Inc. ... with one exception.
These are Not the characters we met in Monsters, Inc. — not the Sully, and definitely not the Mike.
Sure, the easy argument is that as teenagers, the fellas had different attitudes, different outlooks, different personalities. That the events of Monsters University helped Sully to learn a lesson about hubris, eventually becoming the upstanding hero that we first discovered back in 2001. But does that forgive the fact that we're faced with a relative in the new release? And what about Mike? In the original, Crystal sighs and whines as a nebbishy 9-to-5er, a glory hound who seems less like a lifelong scaring aficianado and more so a cog in the all-encompassing machine of the monsters' benignly Orwellian society. He's a wiseass who fibs and smack-talks, who fails to file paperwork and aches to clocks out early. Not an evolution of the Monsters University hero, but a separate character entirely. And, in earnest, a much funnier one.
As such, we wonder if the story would have been better served with a focus on two different characters entirely — perhaps the son of Monsters, Inc.'s James Sullivan, and a wide-eyed original character in place of the pseudo-Wazowski. Naturally, this is simply not good business. People signing onto a Monsters, Inc. follow-up want to see the characters they fell in love with, and would be far more likely to hitch wagons to at the very least a thin guise of said characters than to something altogether new. But with a much younger spirit than its predecessor, a younger mentality and as such a younger audience to please, it's worth noting that the people this movie is really reaching were probably not even alive when Monsters, Inc. came out.
We'd be more inclined to judge the film as a standalone feature if it didn't grab for off-references to Inc. every few scenes, peppering in jokes about Mike's canon inability to take a good photo (or to recognize when he has taken a bad one), the eventual decay of the first's villain Randal (Steve Buscemi), and about the mysterious existence of special agent Roz, among others. With constant reminders to the glory that was Monsters, Inc., a movie that painted a vivid world that University's hardly lives up to, longstanding Pixar fans are bound to face disappointment.
However, those noble cinephiles able to take the new release as its own dish, feasting on the sweet and tender parable about friendship and tolerance, and chuckling at some of the crazier side characters' likable antics, will find it to be just enough simple fun and feel-goodery. While Inc. and many of its Pixar brethren are stocked with entertainment for all audiences, this one's really more for the kids ... which is odd, because there's a scene of monsters playing beer pong.
3/5
Follow Michael Arbeiter on Twitter @MichaelArbeiter | Follow hollywood.com on Twitter @hollywood_com
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Helena Bonham Carter is getting back into fantasy again, this time as Cinderella's fairy godmother in the live-action adaptation of the classic fairy tale. Bonham Carter has played her fair share of fantasy characters, from Harry Potter's Bellatrix Lestrange to the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, so it's safe to say she knows what she's doing. She's also knocks pretty much everything she does out of the park; Cinderella should be no different.
The film will be directed by Kenneth Branagh and will star Downton Abbey's Lily James as Cinderella, Cate Blanchett as her evil stepmother, and Game of Thrones' Richard Madden as Prince Charming. Thank the old gods and the new that Madden will make his way back into our hearts after being so gut-wrenchingly torn from our small screens.
We haven't seen Bonham Carter since she played the horrible and hilarious Madame Thénardier in Tom Hooper's Les Misérables, but don't think that means she hasn't been busy. At the start of next month, she'll be seen alongside Johnny Depp in Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger.
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The Sopranos is praised — and rightly so — for being revolutionary, for being unlike anything that had come before it. It shattered all expectations of what was possible on television and cemented the idea of an antihero for the viewing public. Without Tony Soprano, critics and audiences alike concede, we wouldn't have the likes of Walter White, Don Draper, Dexter Morgan, Stringer Bell, and so many others today. But adulations of James Gandolfini and David Chase's seminal work usually fail to mention that the series is also unlike anything that has been created since.
The Sopranos was on the air from 1999-2007 — during which time I graduated middle school, then high school, and then headed off to college (taking me the closest I had ever been to New Jersey). The timing was such that many of my peers were able to grow up with the Soprano family — we were nearly the same age as A.J. My boyfriend, who was raised in New Jersey, would watch the series with his parents — his mom covering his eyes during scenes that took place at the Bing — and as a result, feels the Sopranos to be a second, more violent, deeply twisted family. I, however, came late to the game.
Tony, Carmela, Christopher, Sil, and the rest of the gang entered my life just last year, when I finally embarked upon the monumental journey that is watching The Sopranos. I had somehow managed to avoid learning anything about the series while it was on the air and in the myriad discussions that followed, barring that it was about a New Jersey mob family and ended in a controversial cut to black. I came to the series unspoiled, just a bit late.
While I knew nothing of the show's plot or characters (minus, of course, Gandolfini as the family's patriarch), I wasn't blind to the show's reputation or legacy — in my industry, with my friends, how could I be? I was aware of The Sopranos' accolades as well as the discussion surrounding its historical place in television, and as such I was eager to sink my teeth into the series that paved the way for my current favorites, such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Needless to say, my expectations were high. But, in large part due to Gandolfini, the series easily surpassed all of them.
A year after I popped in that first DVD, I had cried, laughed, and gasped my way through all six seasons. And, once Journey cut off mid chorus, I wanted to talk about what I had seen. But the conversation I was eager to join was not the one that looked at The Sopranos in a greater, historical context. It was not the one that thanked David Chase for creating the bravest character on television and Gandolfini for bringing him to life. I wanted to talk about the specifics of the show: the scenes that left me in tears and that took my breath away, the shocks and twists and heartbreaking moments I had just seen. And I wanted to talk about it with fellow devotees on Twitter and in line at Starbucks, like rabid fans of Game of Thrones are able to do every Monday morning.
Because, 14 years after the pilot aired and six years after the series went off the air, The Sopranos still offers things I've never seen on TV before. It hasn't become dated or passé, its disciples haven't eradicated its originality in their emulation of its tropes. It is still the best television show I've ever seen. And I'm not sure James Gandolfini's performance will ever be topped.
When news of Gandolfini's passing reached me Wednesday evening, I was affected in a way no celebrity death has affected me before. I felt — and continue to feel — a loss for not only a great man and a talented actor, but for someone I have welcomed into my home (by way of the television screen) and who has become my friend. And a new friend, at that. Tony Soprano and I don't go way back; I've only recently made his acquaintance. But I envisioned a long and happy fandom for Mr. Gandolfini all the same — one in which I flock to his films, root for his pilots, and proclaim the virtues of The Sopranos for years to come. But on Wednesday night, in a hotel room in Italy, he was taken from me too early. From all of us. And we are all left pondering what could have been. What happened after Tony Soprano's final scene cut to black? We'll debate the question for decades.
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The name James Gandolfini might always be synonymous with his HBO anti-hero Tony Soprano, and for good reason — the troubled Mafioso in David Chase's masterful drama proved to be an unprecedentedly complex character, played to perfection by New Jersey native Gandolfini. But that doesn't mean we should shirk the remainder of the actor's work. With roles in crime dramas, satirical comedies, intense thrillers, and family fantasies alike, Gandolfini has proven himself a versatile powerhouse, capable of any cinematic turn. In honor of the late hero of screens big and small, we've compiled a gallery of some of his greatest contributions to the realms of film and TV. Click through to get a new picture of just how much Gandolfini could do.
James Gandolfini's 12 Best Roles
Follow Michael Arbeiter on Twitter @MichaelArbeiter | Follow hollywood.com on Twitter @hollywood_com
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